Watch for Redemption
by Hakluyt
Summary: Azula resists rehabilitation. She wants to escape her past and regain power. When she escapes, she is offered the chance to reclaim herself in a whole new world. Not the spirit world, but somewhere only a Lion Turtle can go...
1. Chapter 1

Ember Island didn't enjoy quite the level of popularity in winter it had in summer. The trees were bare and the sea winds blew spray like cold knives.

The holiday homes of Fire Nation nobility and military leaders mostly stood empty. The few that were inhabited were mostly so by their families, who were being kept at a respectful distance from the court. The recent end of the Hundred-Year War and the deposition of Fire Lord Ozai had made it a politically and personally hazardous place at times.

Today, however, the eye of that storm was not in the Fire Nation Capital. Rather, he was disembarking from a steel-clad Fire Nation frigate on the military dock of Ember Island.

Fire Lord Zuko, flanked by his Imperial Guard, descended the gangway and pulled his cloak tight against the driving sleet.

Part of his entourage split off to go prepare his family home. He and his dozen firebender bodyguards ascended a winding stairway leading to structure high on an inland hill. It had walls of white stucco and narrow windows like a fortress. It probably had been one at some point, Zuko reflected, but for a century at least it had been the Ember Island hospital.

Zuko's rich cloak seemed scarcely adequate against the wind high up near the hospital walls. All the same, it wasn't just cold that gave him pause.

"Fire Lord Zuko!" A guard announced as the main doors opened to let him pass. The lobby bustled with doctors and nurses in pastel-pink smocks and tunics, and all promptly prostrated themselves as Zuko handed his cloak off to an attendant.

After an appropriate interval, the staff rose again and went about their business, except for one figure, clad in blue, running down the main staircase opposite the entrance. "Zuko!"

"Katara," Zuko rasped, clasping hands with Katara, "It's good to see you."

"It's great to see you too," Katara said, a little out of breath. But the concern and compassion that were her trademarks were very evident in her voice. "You look so…"

Zuko nodded wearily, "So Mai keeps saying." He didn't bother playing the stoic; he knew he had dark circles under his eyes and a case of five o'clock shadow – a phenomenon that was new to him as he hit the age of seventeen.

"It's good you've decided to get away for a while," Katara said.

"Not for long," Zuko replied. "There are too many negotiations that still need done. Uncle and Aang are taking care of some of it, but Aang doesn't exactly have a head for politics, and I've got at least as much to worry about from my own courtiers as from the Earth Kingdoms."

Katara nodded sadly. Zuko asked her, "How are you doing here?"

Katara sighed, "It's hard with Aang away so much. But what we're doing is important: not only are we treating the wounded, but the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation soldiers are actually starting to get along."

"That's great news," Zuko said, smiling.

"Yeah," Katara sighed, "mending their bodies is the easy part though. Some of them…"

Katara seemed to check herself and fall silent. Zuko took a deep breath and asked, "I want to see her."

Katara looked sadly at Zuko. She'd gotten taller since the end of the war, nearly as tall as Zuko himself, but she seemed wilting and careworn. "Alright. I'm sorry, she hasn't improved really." Katara started up the stairs, Zuko falling into step alongside.

"We've kept her as comfortable as possible, and she's a lot calmer than when she came in, but she won't talk to anyone except to bark orders at them. When she first came in here, she wouldn't even let me heal any of the burns or bruises she suffered fighting you."

Zuko winced as he remembered his own injuries from that day. It had been four months ago, but the lightning burn through his torso still twinged now and then.

Presently they arrived at a heavy door, more akin to that of a prison than a hospital. Katara slid the little hatch at eye level aside and looked in. "She's awake. Go on in," and she opened the door.

The room inside was austere: a bed and an armchair the only features to it. The window was narrow and barred. And slumped in the armchair was a ragged-haired, pale fifteen-year-old girl.

"I'll be outside," Katara said, and closed the door as Zuko entered.

The girl in the chair straightened up sharply and glared at Zuko.

"Hello, Azula," Zuko said softly.

Azula's expression was one of wide-eyed anger, and she turned away.

"Mind if I sit down?" Zuko asked. When no reply was forthcoming, he sat on the edge of the bed anyway.

"Are you comfortable here? Are they treating you well?"

Azula snorted, "Comfortable! In my lowly prison cell?"

'Lowly prison cell;' almost exactly Ozai's words to Zuko after his defeat. "Azula, I didn't have you brought here because I wanted to punish you. I wanted for you to have some peace!"

"Peace?" Azula spat. She twisted round to face Zuko, "To rot in this little room? What you call 'peace' I call being caged!"

Zuko sighed, trying to remain calm. He thought she might not understand. How could she?

"Azula, when I saw you last, you were a sobbing, exhausted, paranoid wreck. You'd been Fire Lord for all of a few days and you were ready to collapse!"

"I was being plotted against," Azula growled. She couldn't seem to maintain eye contact and stared furiously at the rug on the floor. "No one could be trusted."

"For you, can anyone be trusted anyway?"

Azula continued glaring at the floor.

"Azula, I've talked to Lo, Li, and the palace staff. You kept banishing them for any minor detail that offended you. You seemed convinced that you were going to be assassinated."

"I was Fire Lord!"

"Sozin, Azulon and our father never dismissed their whole court."

Azula squirmed in her seat. Zuko thought he saw tears rising in her eyes, "You're trying to make me confused! I was betrayed! Mai, Ty Lee, you…"

Zuko found his temper flaring, "When did I ever betray you?"

Azula seemed to find this question offensive. She sprang to her feet, tears now running down her pale face, and she screamed, "You betrayed me to our Father! You told him that the Avatar was alive!"

Zuko blinked. He had indeed told Ozai that the Avatar, presumed dead by Zuko's own hand, was alive. He had told Ozai that Azula had lied to him about it. But as he'd left the Fire Nation court that same hour to seek Aang and join forces with him, he'd never really considered what happened between them when he left.

"Because of you, he left me behind! At the moment of our victory, he left me behind!"

"Azula, it doesn't matter that you weren't there," Zuko said, "he lost. The Avatar defeated him."

"Shut up!" Azula was breathing hard, and Zuko swore some brief puffs of blue flame issued from her nostrils.

"Azula," Zuko stood, spreading his arms in a gesture of peace, "I get it. You're angry because you thought you had life all figured out, and now that's gone. I felt the same way when I was banished. But if you'll just let the people here help – talk with them – maybe you can rebuild yourself."

Azula gave a shrill, derisive laugh, "Rebuild myself? Into what? The meek little courtier? The well-mannered prisoner?" She drew herself up, "I'm a princess of the Line of Sozin, nothing less than the ruler by divine right! You and your Water Tribe peasant want to destroy me!"

Zuko was ready to retort, but he suddenly saw Azula's posture slip, just for a moment. She's pouring so much strength into keeping up her poise and stature…but now she's got nothing to back it up with. Zuko checked himself. "You are a princess of the Line of Sozin. You're also my sister, and I don't want for you to be alone. I'll be on Ember Island all day tomorrow. I thought we could spend some time together."

Azula raised a cynical eyebrow. "And do what? Talk about my feelings?"

"Not if you don't want to. I just want you to feel something other than rage and misery for a few hours."

Zuko stood again and said, "I'll come back in the morning."

"I won't see you!" Azula snapped.

Zuko hesitated, and then said, "Well, I'll be here, if you change your mind."

"The fact is, she's in denial." Katara handed Zuko a cup of tea and sat down. "Her manipulations, her battle-tactics, all relied on her being the authoritative princess."

"But…she was like this even when she was a kid! And when she disguised herself as a Kyoshi warrior…"

"What I mean," Katara interjected, "is that she relied on it. But her self-image was broken by losing to us in the Agni Kai."

"And losing her father's confidence," Zuko added.

Katara blinked, "I didn't think she really needed anyone's confidence but her own."

Zuko sighed, "Maybe her father was to her what Uncle was to me, just from the other direction."

'Her father,' Katara noted, not 'my father' or 'our father.'

"What's new with Ozai?"

"He's got his strength back, although not his firebending. He's been moved to some small apartments on one of the offshore islands, although we're keeping it a secret exactly which one. Too many generals and admirals are still loyal to Sozin's plan of conquest."

Katara looked pensive, "Do you think…I mean, I hate to say it, but would it be safer to…"

"No," Zuko said flatly, "I said I would rule over an era of peace and kindness. I won't go against it like that."

Katara looked relieved, "I'm glad."

"So how's Aang? Your family?"

"Aang's in the Earth Kingdom colonies right now, trying to keep the colonials and the Earth subjects from being at each other's throats. Sokka and our dad are back at the South Pole working with Master Pakku."

Zuko laughed wryly, "Everyone's certainly keeping busy."

Katara nodded, "It's weird, now that the war is over, we all seem to have gone our separate ways."

Zuko considered this, "Ty Lee is with the Kyoshi Warriors, Uncle is in Ba Sing Se serving tea and playing Pai Sho, and Toph is teaching Earthbending in Gaoling. Yeah, it does seem that way. But at least we can send letters, and we'll have a chance to spend time together at the next summit in Ba Sing Se."

Katara smiled a little, and then asked, "How about your family?"

"Mai? Well, the courtiers are insisting we set a date, but I think that's not coming for another year at least."

"What about…your mother?"

Zuko slumped, much as Azula had done, "No sign. Father – Ozai – said she set sail for Ember Island, and then that was the last anyone seems to have heard from her."

"Discreetly," Katara said, "I've told Sokka, Aang and Dad to keep an eye out for her, but there's been no news yet."

Zuko's expression progressed rapidly from surprise to gratitude, "Thank you."

They made small talk for a while longer, and Zuko made arrangements to come have breakfast the next morning, with Azula if she was willing, and with Katara if she wasn't.

Zuko left by the side gate, which had a shorter path to his family's holiday house. Katara shut the door quickly against the draft, after a brief glance out over the sea, toward the little forested island off the coast. Strange, she thought, it seems closer than usual, somehow.


	2. Chapter 2

Night was falling on Ember Island and Azula was doing her rounds – that was what the wardens of this prison called it when they thought she couldn't hear them – inspecting the new bed sheets for rat-vipers or traces of poison, and that they had been cleaned, pressed and turned down properly; making sure no spies or assassins were concealed under the furniture, and that the cleaners had swept up properly; listening for the passage of the orderlies in the hall outside, and shouting orders at them to straighten up or look lively if they had bad posture or were thirty seconds late; confirming that her cell door was, in fact, locked. She'd also demanded, as usual, that the same orderly who delivered her dinner be the one to collect her dishes afterward, to confirm that she hadn't been taken ill after obeying Azula's command to taste it first.

The doctors had told their staff to indulge her in this, since she could become hysterically angry if she was unduly reminded that she was not, in fact, in command any longer.

Then the night fell fully and Azula turned and sat in her armchair. She wasn't going to sleep if she could help it. Now that Zuko was here, she needed to be on her guard. Now might be the time they take her to some show trial, or maybe do away with her entirely! Maybe, now, she could win the Agni Kai and take her rightful place as Fire Lord…

But who would follow her now? They were all loyal to Zuko. Even those traitors, Mai and Ty Lee wouldn't be brought to heel now. Why was she mourning losing them? What use were they to her?

I think you're confused. All your life you've used fear to control people.

"Mother," she snarled to herself. Her mother who still haunted her dreams. Often she dreamed she was fighting the Agni Kai with Zuko, and just as she was about to deliver the fatal lighting-bolt, her mother would cry out for her to stop, and spout a lot of garbage about loving Azula, and then Azula would get distracted, hold onto the lighting too long, and burn from the inside out.

And then wake up screaming and surrounded by orderlies and that damned Water Tribe peasant! The first time it had happened, she immediately tried to summon the lightning, but something had gone wrong, the energy burst exploded and she'd knocked herself out against the headboard.

Deep inside, she knew that for all her brilliance, her cleverness and her royal blood, she was helpless. All she could do, in the end, was maintain her dignity and her noble disposition as best she could, defying attempts to mould her into anything less than that.

But with Zuko here, that might not be possible. She'd let her armour crack in front of him. Tears! She's shed tears right in front of him! And he'd tell everyone that she was weak! So much for Ember Island giving everyone a clean slate!

With a growl, she stood and paced furiously in the dark, trying to resolve the cycle of plots and obstacles that ran through her mind.

As she had done earlier, she went to the window and thrust the heavy curtains aside. With difficulty, she could see down the slope to where the royal summer residence stood. Lights were on in its windows. The crescent moon was rising and…

Azula narrowed her eyes. There was an islet, a mound of earth with trees on it, nothing more, just off the shores of Ember Island.

But in the faint moonlight, it looked…bigger. Closer. She shook her head and looked again. But if there was one thing she would not accept disobedience from it was her own eyes.

As her eyes travelled back to the nearer shore, she froze. On the beach in front of the Royal Residence, a small steam boat was pulling up on the shore!

For months Azula's primary state had been one of a soul heavy with monotony. But suddenly she was light with ideas. She felt her mind accelerate. She felt confidence for the first time since – no! Don't think about the Agni Kai. All that would soon be undone, if this worked. It was risky, but oh, so worth it!

Turning, Azula assumed a fighting stance, and began the motions. She felt the chi flow to her will. She felt her hair prickle and smelled ozone. Then she stabbed her arm outward.

The lightning burst forth. Admittedly, it was not her best. The recoil shoved her up against the foot of her bed. But the important thing was she did it! The lock of the door was blasted outward in a million pieces. The door itself sprang open, and without a backward glance, and only a moment's hesitation at the sight of the orderly bleeding in a heap from shrapnel wounds, she sprinted for the door.

Azula had paid close attention to the layout of the facility, so she knew that the side door opened onto a hewn-stone stair down to the beach near Lo and Li's cottage and the Royal Residence.

And the boat.

By the time she kicked the flimsy wooden gate down – which hurt; she'd neglected her exercise – it sounded like half the orderlies in the place were chasing her. The stairs were slippery with sleet, and the puddles could easily be turned to capturing ice by Waterbending, so she jumped off into the foliage. Cold mud was more haphazard to navigate, but safer to fall down on.

She burst out through the shrubs and out into the grassy slope than ran down toward the beach.

She skidded to a halt and lashed back as four jets of orange flame roared towards her. She conjured a protective torus of her signature blue flame to protect herself.

Somewhere through the roar of flame she heard an authoritative shouting, and the orange flame desisted. Azula ceased firebending to see the four armoured firebenders backing off as the robed and armoured figure of Zuko swept forward towards her.

"Azula! What are you doing?"

"You think I'm going to let you destroy me? Usurp father? I won't sit in your prison with your Water Tribe serf prodding me!"

"Azula, you've got no where to go! You have no army! No palace! Why bother?"

Azula hesitated, forcing herself not to show it, and then said, "Because you're going to tell me something: where is my father?"

Zuko blinked, "What?"

"What did you do with him?"

"He's in prison."

"Where?"

Zuko shook his head, "It won't do you any good, Azula. It's not worth it. Where he's held is secret. I haven't even told Mai where he is."

Azula's breath shortened with nervousness. Already her grand plan was cracking. No, no, no! I need his power to confirm mine! I need him to get rid of Zuko!"

"The Avatar took away his Firebending, Azula. His reign is over. Just stand down, and we'll go…" he paused briefly, and then spoke again in a gentler voice, "we'll go to the house and…"

"No!" Azula screamed, blasting blue flame, catching Zuko off guard. She took off toward the beach.

But she wasn't halfway before the sea suddenly surged forward, up the slope, and then rose upward, and froze into a solid wall of ice. Azula whirled round to see Katara lowering her hands. Azula sprang back up the bluff, making for the next nearest beach, which she was pretty sure had a pier.

But a dozen or more Imperial Guards headed her off. Azula looked around wildly. On her right was the hill back to the prison they called a hospital. In front the poised guards that should have been hers. Her gambit to win over the Dai Li might work…no. Behind her was Zuko and the peasant. And on her left was a cliff above the beaches, with the high islet probably a half-mile or so away.

Azula, almost despite herself, backed away, giving ground in the direction of the cliff. Suddenly Zuko, in a staccato bark said, "The Guard will halt!"

The advancing guards stopped. Zuko slowly advanced alone, his arms spread wide.

"Suddenly the caring brother, Zuzu," Azula tried to inject mockery into her voice.

"You're lucky, Azula. You have someone who knows what you're going through. Take it from me, chasing around the world for your past isn't the way. I came to Ember Island hoping we could work together, to help you make a new life. A life that didn't hinge on fighting, terrorizing and manipulating everyone else."

"Make me your pet! Take all the power and show me up as a naughty child, like mother did! I'd rather die!"

Zuko snapped, "Don't say that about Mother!"

"Zuko!" Katara's voice had warning in it.

Zuko glanced back at her and then back at Azula. What's wrong with me, Azula thought, he gave me an opening! Why didn't I take it?

"Look at us, Azula," Zuko said, "we're both caught in the shadows of our messed-up childhood. But I've learned to move forward from that. You can too! Please…"

He stepped forward, extending his hand. "Come on. You don't need Father to be you. I won't make you do anything, I'm just asking. Please…"

Azula stepped away from Zuko, whose eyes widened, "Azula, watch out!"

The 'cliff' was really more of a gigantic sand dune that rose up from eroding bedrock, beaten by the sea. Under Azula's slippered foot, the dune grass roots lost their grasp, the sand crumbling away. Azula didn't take her eyes off Zuko. She'd neglected to take advantage of his quarter, she would give him none. But the sand gave way. She gasped and her arms windmilled as she lost her balance.

"Azula!" Zuko sprang forward grabbing for her hand.

It was like that moment, nearly a year ago, at the Northern Water Tribe. As the rampaging Ocean Spirit seized Admiral Zhao, Zuko had offered aid to him. But the Admiral withheld his own hand, and been drowned rather than live with his pride injured.

Azula's expression of fear changed suddenly back to her usual burning resentment. She spread her arms, putting herself out of Zuko's reach. And with that she gave up her tenuous balance. Without a sound, she fell. She kicked one leg out and fire blasted out of her foot and hands. Zuko was blown over backwards. Waving the wisps of flame clear, he watched, horror-struck, as Azula soared away off the cliff. Her fire blast seemed to lose force, and then she plummeted into the sea with a distant splash.

"Get down to the boats!" Zuko screamed, "Now!"

The sea was a little choppy, and a lot cold.

Part of Azula wasn't sure why she had gone to the trouble of rocketing herself out like that. It was a gamble to reach the islet, and at the same time made it all the harder for Zuzu's minions to get her, but it was hard to say what was really her priority.

Azula tread water vigorously, gasping for air. The frigid air drove the breath from her. She stared hard toward the horizon. Her spirits sunk to see that the islet was still over a quarter of a mile away, and in the icy water her limbs were growing stiff and numb.

She was sinking slowly, dragged down by the weight of her cotton wool patient's clothes. Well, if Zuzu doesn't get here in time, so much the worse for him for putting her in that jail then!

Her head nearly went under. She spat out seawater and saw the island once more – it seemed nearer now. Maybe the currents were carrying her there!

No point in hoping, she thought. But she struck out in a stilted breaststroke for the islet. She thought she could here the boat engine and it was that keeping her going.

But as she swam on, her strength failed rapidly in the cold and the exertion. Still, she thought, oddly dispassionately, this way Zuzu would never humiliate her again, and she would always have been Princess Azula, as she knew she was, Ozai's daughter.

As the water closed over her head, she cursed Zuko and her mother and the Avatar and the Water Tribe Peasant all one last time.

And then, to her amazement, she felt herself rising. At first she thought, perhaps, it was her soul rising from her body, but souls do not splash and sputter when coming out of the water.

Shaking her hair out of her eyes she looked around. She wasn't in a boat, and there were no guards. Something had lifted her up from below! She looked down. A massive, scaly, golden paw, with claws like bronze! And rising out of the sea…

Azula crouched in the centre of the enormous claws, shivering violently as, in the moonlight, a giant Lion Turtle, that rarest of beings, stared out of its massive golden eyes at her. With dull amazement, Azula further realized that the Lion Turtle had not risen up in front of the islet: the Lion Turtle was the islet! Its shell was overgrown with trees, made stable through years of immobility.

Then it spoke. Or rather, she heard its voice, but its tusked maw didn't appear to move enough for speech. It said, in a deep boom inside her skull, you who are a child of a royal line of the element of fire, seek to be extinguished?

Even though her teeth were chattering, she forced herself to say, "I seek to escape from my enemies! If I die, then at least I die myself! They won't take anything else away from me!"

You have lost your identity and descended into darkness. Seek a path into the light and be cleansed.

Azula, despite being almost immobile with cold, asked, "Is there any such path?"

It depends on what you desire.

"I desire restoration! To be as I was, as I should be, or to die if I can't!"

The exertion of shouting this made dark spots bloom in her vision. She vaguely discerned that the Lion Turtle had raised its other paw, and it was descending on her. She groaned, "I want to be myself again…"

You have turned your back upon the world in which you have lived. You have no ground left on which to build a life. So you must find it in another one…

Azula passed out.


	3. Chapter 3

Zuko, poised like a drawn arrow in the prow of the boat, threw fireballs to light the way ahead of them. There had been a brief flash of light, maybe Azula throwing up a distress signal, he told himself desperately. But the nearer they got to the forest islet, the dimmer his hopes became. He shouted her name until he was hoarse as the boat meandered frantically around where she had hit the water, and where she might have been able to swim to. Not far, according to Katara, in water this cold.

"Breath of fire," Zuko muttered, "she knows Breath of Fire. She can survive."

"She can," Katara said softly, "but would she have wanted to?"

Her words, spoken gently, were as knives to Zuko. "She might have made it to the islet. Signal the troops on the shore to get out here to search. We'll get started!"

Katara looked at the undulating obsidian waters, but couldn't bring herself to tell him she thought it was hopeless. Dully, she followed Zuko as they began searching by the light of Firebending.

Something about the forest made Katara uneasy. It seemed to have its own luminescence. It was also strangely still despite the breezy seaside weather.

More search parties arrived presently, and the islet was searched from top to bottom. Katara, exchanging a few words with hospital orderlies shuttled over by Zuko's frigate, suddenly noticed a yellow gleam on the horizon. They'd been at it all night.

Shortly thereafter, she trudged up to the summit of the island. There was something definitely odd about this place. At the very summit was a clearing covered in a strange tile-like pattern of hexagons. Possibly some very ancient temple had once stood here, but Katara felt there was something very profound here, though she knew not what.

Zuko was sitting against one of the old trees, his knees drawn up to his chest and his face buried in his folded arms.

Katara knelt beside him and said, "Zuko?"

Looking even more tired and unkempt than ever, he looked blearily up at her.

"I'm sorry Zuko," Katara said, hating having to do this to him, "There's no sign of her. I'm afraid…oh Zuko I'm so sorry…I don't think she made it."

Zuko stared at her, stricken. Then he coughed once, and the tears ran freely. Katara drew him into an embrace as the Fire Lord sobbed with grief.

Azula felt air enter her lungs. She felt her chest rise accordingly, and then lower as the air left. She felt a weight on her, and warmth, or at least an absence of cold. She opened her eyes, which, as it turned out, were there to be opened. Then she shut them again as she saw the shape of a figure looming over her, black and menacing.

"OH, EXCUSE ME," said a voice like a falling block of steel, "MY MISTAKE."

When she awoke a second time, it was to find herself lying in a luxuriant bed in a spacious chamber. A fireplace was crackling away at the far end of the room.

She moved her fingers and toes, and then raised her arms. Good. Everything seemed to work, although she felt stiff as a board. Wincing, she propped herself up and looked around. The room was totally unfamiliar. Not just in the sense that she'd not been here before, but that the room was unlike any she'd ever seen. The walls seemed to be divided into panels by fluted frames, and the walls at large were painted a kind of pastel blue. The bed was a four-poster, but the blanket and curtains were a pale purple. The fireplace decoration was of what looked like winged infants carrying trumpets with fruit coming out of them! The curtains over the windows were drawn, but a hint of light coming around them indicated it was day. Still stiff, Azula managed to find her way out of the voluminous heap of soft sheets and heavy blankets that had been piled with abandon on top of her.

She looked down at herself in surprise. She'd been clad in some kind of white gown that fell to her ankles. It was covered in a kind of woven pattern that swirled and trailed all over it, especially around the cuffs of the sleeves. Compared to her red and gold silk nightgown, it was as alien as if she'd been clothed in seaweed.

She looked around. Her hospital tunic and robe were nowhere in evidence. There was a large wardrobe in one corner. She went to that and opened it. It contained a single robe, made of a woollen fabric but of high quality, and a pair of slippers. She put them on and explored further, finding a very fine, small bathroom.

Then she moved to the curtained windows, and pushed the fabric aside. Her jaw dropped.

The street outside was broad and lined with palatial houses, although once again they were of a style she couldn't recognize from anywhere in the Earth Kingdoms or the Fire Nation. They had extensive gardens around them, although the trees were bare. It was bright and sunny outside. Coaches drawn by…some strange four-legged, long-muzzle beasts with long swishing tails rattled along the cobblestones and ladies walked up the street in voluminous skirts and fur scarves with gentlemen in dark, form-fitting clothing with silver and gold flair here and there.

Azula smiled a bit. So she was among the aristocracy. Good. These were people who would understand her. But this was not Ember Island. So where was she?

With that, Azula turned and headed toward the large double doors which, she deduced correctly, led into a long hallway. With a furtive air, she scurried down it, listening for any sounds of voices.

It suddenly occurred to Azula that she didn't know whether she should expect to be regarded as a guest, or a prisoner. It also occurred to her what the Lion Turtle had said: she needed to seek to rebuild her life in another world.

She froze in the hallway. Just what had the Lion Turtle been doing, bringing its paw down towards her before she'd blacked out?

Azula moved on, with increasing urgency and heart rate.

She arrived at the top of a large staircase, and for the first time, caught the faint sound of voices. She crept across the landing to the door whence it came. Listening carefully, she heard a man's voice. It was indistinct, except for a sudden exclamation:

"Hruuugh!"

Azula frowned and moved back. Was she in another hospital for the insane?

Moving quickly and quietly she rushed down the stairs toward the big doors, which she hoped was the exit.

Just before she arrived at the door, it opened. Azula's eyes widened. Two figures stood in the door. One was tall and wide, and clad from head to toe in heavy, old leather, even a kind of helmet with goggles.

The…creature next to the apparition was small, scruffy, hideously mottled and wearing armour.

Despite her methodical mindset up until now, confronting this living strangeness was too much. Her reaction was instantaneous. She blasted blue flames out of her hands. Both figures were blown over backwards. Azula sprinted past them and down the street just as fast as she could go.

Lady Sybil picked herself up and pulled off the dragon-proof headgear. She was quite bald – retaining one's own hair was a pointless endeavour when you bred pedigree swamp dragons, and could afford the best wigmakers in the city.

She coughed, waved some smoke aside and said, "Good Heavens! That was the very child I was telling – oh my, Corporal, you're on fire!"

"Kind of you to warn me, ma'am," said Nobby Nobbs, who was attempting to quash the small grease fires breaking out on his breastplate. He tried to snuff them with his helmet, but only succeeded in igniting the inside of the helmet like a temple brazier. There was a smell of bad lamp oil.

"I've heard of 'hot-footing it' before," Sybil breathed, "but that was just absurd!"

"Reckon she looks Agataean, ma'am," Nobby opined, setting his flaming helmet gingerly on the cobbles, "I hear they've folk there what eat fire and then cough it up at you. It's entertainment. I've never heard of them throwing it at you, though."

"Well, standing here talking about it won't do any good. I won't let a guest in need go wandering into a strange city in nothing but a dressing gown and nightie."

"Personally," Nobby said, "I wouldn't dare walk through this city without armour and a truncheon. Only way to travel, really."

"That's enough of that, Corporal," said Lady Sybil, suddenly sharp, "Now extinguish yourself and go get Sam!"


	4. Chapter 4

As Azula made her way further into the city, she directed herself toward the staggeringly tall tower that seemed to be its centrepiece. In the luxuriant and distinguished range of buildings associated with it, Mustrum Ridcully, Archchancellor of Unseen University looked out of his office window, down into the streets of Ankh-Morpork. Behind him, the bespectacled form of Ponder Stibbons, head of the Department of Inadvisably Applied Magic, and Rincewind, head of Cruel and Unusual Geography waited for him to speak.

"Other dimensions opening onto ours?"

"Just one, sir," said Stibbons, "and fairly briefly, last night. The Cabinet of Curiosities was being folded up for the night, and we had an…incident."

"An incident? What? Did Bel-Shamharoth jump out and gob on you?" Ridcully boomed.

"Nothing quite that dramatic, sir," Rincewind said, "but there was a sudden disruption in the dimensional shifting, sir. The Head of Indefinite Studies was knocked clear across the room by an extruding drawer that came, in more ways than one, out of nowhere."

"Not hurt is he?" Ridcully asked, alarmed. The Cabinet of Curiosity was a notoriously unpredictable entity, the consequences of standing too close to which could only be described as 'curious.'

"Mostly just his pride, sir," said Ponder gravely.

"Lucky it wasn't me," Ridcully said jovially, "If I hurt my pride I'd be in my grave by now!"

Ponder coughed. "Yes, sir."

"Well what does it mean then," said Ridcully, "Dungeon dimensions about to burst open upon us at last?"

Rincewind flinched, "Uh, no Archchancellor. Mr. Stibbons and I investigated and some kind of…er, what did you call it again?"

"A quantum sympathetic tremor," Ponder said with some relish. "Something in another dimension has somehow resonated with something in ours."

"Resonated with what, damn you, Stibbons!" Ridcully had limited patience at the best of times, and Ponder's evident glee at such an occurrence and desire to keep dramatic flourish was not helping.

"With Great A'Tuin, Archchancellor."

Ridcully, on the rare occasion, was dumbstruck. "The Turtle? What resonates with Great A'Tuin?"

"We don't know, Archchancellor," said Stibbons, "but whatever it was, the resonation ran right up here into Ankh-Morpork."

"To what effect," Ridcully demanded.

"Uh, we don't know," said Stibbons.

"Then what do we do, man?"

"For starters, sir, I think we should warn the Patrician, and keep our eye on events in the city."

The streets here seemed to be much busier with the doings of a greater range of people.

Azula had made her way as directly as possible toward what seemed to be the centre of the city. She'd been delayed by trying to find the bridge across the river, which was quite possibly the most fetid, gelatinous body of water she'd ever been unlucky enough to encounter.

Luckily there had been a bridge, through a park in the high-class part of the city. But the tall tower and other distinguished buildings standing above their neighbours near the city centre made it look as though that was where the actual power was held.

The city streets were wide and rambling, all the intersections marking the street changing angle as it went.

Something was very odd about this city neighbourhood. For one thing, almost everyone she passed in the street here was afflicted with great shortness. Were it not for them all having long beards, she would have taken them for stout children. And many, if not most, carried impressive-looking steel axes slung over their backs or stuck through their belts.

And that was by no means the strangest thing she'd seen: a trio of what looked like hulking piles of garbage with limbs knuckled up the street, gathering up every bit of rubbish they came across.

Presently she noticed a building that looked like a tavern. She couldn't read the language of this country (in itself strange; she had at least a functional literacy in Earth Kingdom script and even a little Water Tribe). However the sign was a picture of a bucket. She went inside.

The tavern was bustling but not at its peak – it was barely after sunset – but Azula was brought up short by the presence of a number of people wearing armour.

One table off to the side was surrounded by them: they all wore brown tunics over dented and dull breastplates, and two of them – another of the short bearded people and a dusky man with a vacant expression – wore helmets. With them were another man with enormous spectacles and excessively neat hair and a petite, pale, dark-haired girl, who looked scarcely older than Azula.

Azula moved toward the bar, discomfited to realize she was attracting stares. She hadn't thought that she would have been so very conspicuous: a robe was common enough dress in the Four Nations, although this one was nothing like a resplendent as she would normally wear, but she had yet to see anyone wearing anything remotely like her clothing.

And this clothing was clearly not up to the weather. There was slush in the streets and it was clearly at least as far into winter here as it had been on Ember Island. Her feet were practically numb and her skin was all gooseflesh.

At least it was warm in here, Azula thought.

She tried to move toward a hearthside chair with as much dignity as befit a Fire Nation Princess. Everyone from the innkeeper to the armoured men and women to the decrepit beggar were looking at her as if she were a strange mythical creature that had just strolled in. The beggar muttered something about shrimp and shuffled off.

Azula sat by the fire, keeping her posture as straight as possible, her demeanour regal in these dingy surroundings.

The innkeeper appeared beside her, and with some measure of decorum, asked, "Something I can do for you, miss?"

Azula took a moment to process this through his strange accent, and then responded, "I require information. What is the name of this place?"

The man blinked, "Uh, the Bucket Pub, miss. Says so above the door."

Azula suppressed her impatience, "I…am from far away. I do not know what this place is."

"Why, miss," said the innkeeper, "This is Ankh-Morpork!"

"And is it part of the Earth Kingdoms?"

The innkeeper shook his head, "No kings here, miss. Only the Patrician, and the Watch, of course," he cocked his head towards the armoured patrons.

Her mind raced, and despite all the whirling strangeness, she felt her confidence rise. Wherever she was, it was a land unknown to the cartographers of the Four Nations. Such a concept was almost impossible to grasp, but nonetheless, it seemed to be so! After all, what places might a Lion Turtle be able to go?

She smiled faintly. She was beyond the reach of Zuko, or the Earth King, or anyone else! Truly, a clean slate.

So this was a city that forswore kings? Well, she overthrew Long Feng, a pretender to royal power, in Ba Sing Se. Now she was in a new city, where no one knew what she was capable of.

But it would not be easy. She was starting from nothing at all. She had no army, no ships, no allies. But she also had her wits and her bending powers.

The Watch, the barman had called those armoured people. That means they're the power of the law here, she thought.

For a moment, Azula was no longer in this tavern in a strange city. She was among the immense palaces and walls of Ba Sing Se. The Dai Li were 'the Watch' there, and she'd mastered them through superior will and cunning. That was her great success, the height of her power, and of the Fire Nation's.

For an instant she found herself sliding into memories of what had followed; betrayal, abandonment, defeat…

She shook off the thoughts angrily and then looked round. The armoured party sprang to their feet as an almighty commotion ensued out in the street.

Azula rose and moved swiftly to the door. Two of the hulking trash-creatures she'd seen earlier was attacking the people in the streets. They were howling and throwing various pieces of rubbish. One turned to face the watchmen, and Azula had to duck sideways as a cracked old jug spun by her head and smashed inside the tavern. One of the short, bearded men watched from behind her, and exclaimed, "It just went mad! Never seen anything like it!"

"I've always said they shouldn't allow gnolls," growled another.

Azula slipped out of the tavern and past where the fight was intensifying. What she needed, she realized, was to get her claws into the Watch. She had to give them a reason to want to follow her. In Ba Sing Se, she'd placed herself at the head of the Dai Li by presenting them with a way to seize power. She had but to do the same here. She could win their respect, and work from there.

Something jogged at the back of her mind, making her focus waver, but then she looked at the ground. She could see footprints consistent with the creatures coming up the street. Bits and drips of rubbish surrounded the prints, including one dark trail of liquid, covering in places by a dusting of snow. Grimacing, she dabbed a finger in and sniffed. It was alcoholic – spirits of some sort. She smiled. With a single finger she produced a flash of flame, which ignited the trail. A little crest of blue flames running along the cobbles stretched rapidly out ahead. She took off in pursuit.

She followed the trail around a curve in the street and up to the front of a ramshackle old townhouse. It had two doors, one at ground level above a stoop, the other at the bottom of a short stairwell, below the street.

Clearly this was a city plagued by monsters. She would demonstrate her power over them. A corner of her mind noticed the irony: the Avatar had supposedly relieved villages of the depredations of the spirit world. Azula, the Avatar of Fire? A promising idea!

Drawing in breath, feeling the energy flow, Azula sent a concussive fire blast out that shattered the door. She was through the door before the flaming splinters had finished clattering to the ground.

The tableau that greeted her was like an underground version of things she'd thought would only go on in the universities of the Fire Nation or Ba Sing Se. There were rows of wooden benches, groaning under the weight of what, at a glance, seemed to be several identical sets of burners, cauldrons and bottles. Each was being worked on by a man in heavy leather gloves, aprons and goggles. It was stiflingly hot and stank in a distinctly chemical way. Rows of jars lined the walls on shelves.

The workers were overseen, so it appeared, by a combination of the short, bearded folk and a few hulking creatures that looked like they were made of living stone. The former carried axes, the latter big clubs.

There was a moment when the whole room stared at the intruder, nonplussed. Then Azula let fly a fireball at one of the rock-creatures. It staggered back, roaring, but its fellows, and the other armed members of the group, all charged her at once. She summoned whips and scythes of flame and threw them forward. The rock creatures took it, and one raised his club.

Azula stumbled back as the club, the step into gravel. She scrambled backward up into the street, thinking fast. Frantically, in fact. She'd show them. As fast as possible, she began the kata for lightning.

For a moment she heard her own voice: "I'll show you lightning!" She saw Zuko's face, and a traitorous inner voice asked, 'What if you fail?'

The spark jumped from her fingertips and exploded. She was blown backward and sprawled on the slushy, grimy street. One of the rock creatures, howling and stumbling, loomed in her vision, club raised.

A big shape, a man, flew out of nowhere and tackled the beast, bowling them both over with a crash. Azula was on her feet again in a flash. The man stunned the rock beast with a punch and stood. He was tall, statuesque, not unlike her father, Azula thought dimly, but he was clad in armour and a brown tunic, carried a wooden club or baton, and had hair the colour of copper.

"Please get clear of the building, Miss," he shouted, "We have it under control."

The other watchmen were joining the fray. The bespectacled man seized a fleeing worker by the coat tails. The petite woman was squaring up against one of the rock monsters, and the dusky man was holding two bearded persons by the scruffs.

The third rock beast was suddenly sent staggering as another of its kind, clad in a version of the armour the watchmen wore, lunged into the fray. It was smaller than its opponent though, who knocked it back and raised its club again.

Azula seized the chance – for what she hadn't really thought about – and punched out a projectile of blue fire at the monster.

The dark-haired woman narrowly missed being caught in it, and the rock monster shifted his weight and it missed him too. The flame sped on and back through the cellar door. The man in the bespectacled watchman's grip screamed, and before she knew it Azula had been knocked over by the big red-haired man and he'd thrown his body across her and yelled "Everyone down!"

There was a 'whump,' and then a moment later, #30 Gleam Street, and everything else within a two-address radius, exploded.


	5. Chapter 5

It was the next morning when one of Zuko's personal guards brought word that a glider had been sighted. It arced around Ember Island and came down on the shore in front of the royal residence.

Katara felt a flush of affection as Aang landed on the sand. He was growing like a weed and was more lean and wiry. He landed a little gracelessly, tripping over his own feet, but there was none of his usual mirth about him as he did.

He shared a tender embrace with Katara before moving on to throw a one-armed hug around Zuko.

"I came as fast as I could," Aang said, noticeably tired and wind-burned. He'd flown all the way from Full Moon Bay.

"I know what you were doing was important, Aang," Zuko croaked. He had been up all night writing messages to Mai, Ty Lee and Iroh, among others. By Katara's reckoning he hadn't slept in nearly twenty-four hours.

"There are different kinds of importance, Zuko," Aang said. "Tell me everything."

It took some telling, and for a time Aang's expression grew steadily graver, until they came to the part about her loss in the sea. He perked up, surprisingly, and pointed out the islet that lay offshore. "That's where she was going? You're sure?"

"It's hard to say if she was going anywhere," Katara said in a gloomy voice, "but that's where she was closest to. She's not there, though, we searched everywhere."

Aang hesitated. The implication that Azula had committed suicide seemed to bear down on Zuko like a terrible weight. He stood up and said, "It may not make much difference, but there is something we can do to make sure that what it looks like happened, actually happened."

Within the hour, they were on a launch boat speeding out towards the distinctive islet. Ember Islanders, according to Zuko, attached some spiritual significance to this island, saying that it moved at night, but little was made of it outside local circles.

"Avatar," said the soldier piloting the boat, when the engine roar was loud and Zuko's mind was clearly elsewhere, "I don't like to put false hope in His Lordship's heart, but I know these waters, and if Princess Azula hadn't survived, I'm sure we would have…well, there would be signs, sir. On shore, you know."

Aang nodded but did not speak. When the boat was within a hundred yards or so of the island he called, "Stop here."

As soon as the boat was still, other than the waves beneath it, Aang hopped up to the prow, settled himself in a meditation posture, and went still.

Zuko and Katara looked at each other, and then at Aang, who sat with his back to them. They knew him well enough not to question his actions, but they didn't understand. They waited there for some time, and Zuko had been considering telling Aang to get one with whatever he was doing when the sea suddenly got rougher, swells two feet high coming out of nowhere. The pilot hung onto the helm with a shocked expression. It was an expression shared by Katara and Zuko as the mound-shaped islet began to rise.

When the face of the Lion Turtle rose above the waves, Katara gave a short scream, and the boat pilot fell to his knees. Aang, calmly despite the choppy waters, got up and bowed to the immense apparition.

Aang seemed to stare into the massive tawny eyes for some while, but no evident speech passed between them. Zuko and Katara moved up on either side of him, and though he didn't speak, Aang's expression changed, first inquisitive, then surprised, then puzzled. After a while he bowed to the Lion Turtle, and it sank again beneath the waves, leaving only its shelled back as an innocuous part of the landscape.

For a long moment no one spoke. 'A giant Lion Turtle' had been Aang's reply when asked how he'd learned the technique to relieve Fire Lord Ozai of his bending power. Katara had wondered before how and where he'd encountered such a creature, and he'd been unusually discreet about it. And it had been here, all the time.

Aang spoke as if nothing much had happened. "Azula made it this far, and then…it found her and asked her why she was trying to destroy herself. I asked what happened to her, and it said 'What I am is an echo of worlds beyond this. Such a world offers a choice denied here. I have the power to send others unto my kin beyond, and this I have done again."

Zuko frowned, "What does that mean?"

"I think it means Azula is in another world," Aang said, frowning too, with puzzlement, not frustration. "A choice denied here…"

"The Spirit World?" Katara wondered aloud.

"Maybe," Aang said, but without conviction. "I'll talk to Avatar Roku, but I think if the Lion Turtle meant the Spirit World, it would have just said that. This sounds like something else."

"So where had this got us?" Zuko demanded, losing his composure momentarily. Aang took no notice.

"It means that Azula is alive. If we want to find out where she is, then we need to find out more about this. We need to know about Lion Turtles and other worlds."

"There's only one person I know who might know about that kind of thing," said Zuko softly. "And he sent word that he's on the next ship out from Ba Sing Se."


	6. Chapter 6

WE REALLY CAN'T GO ON MEETING LIKE THIS, said the steel voice to Azula as she lay in a half-conscious stupor.

"Who…" Azula groaned looked blearily at the hooded apparition.

OH, JUST A SIMPLE PUBLIC SERVANT said Death, running a proprietorial finger down the blade of the scythe. THE KIND YOU NEVER HEAR FROM UNLESS YOU REALLY NEED THEM. NEVER MIND, CARRY ON.

Then she came to. Again.

She raised her head and looked around. Her head throbbed, and as her eyes focused she saw that she was in a stone-walled chamber. And she was in a cell. Bars sliced across her vision. That's when she started to panic.

Captain Carrot sat in the main office of the nearest Watch House to Gleam Street. With him were all the watchmen who had been present at the…incident: Sergeant Ringfounder, Constables Visit, Pessimal and Von Humpeding, and Lance-Constable Brick. Brick was a new recruit to the Watch, and his first incident had left him looking dispirited. Sergeant Cheery Littlebottom and Igor had been summoned from Pseudopolis Yard as well.

Carrot had gotten the others to describe what they saw and what they did leading up to the catastrophic blast. Even now Igors and others from the Free Hospital were bearing stretchers to the site, providing them with occupants and sending these off in special hospital coaches. Higher authorities than he would want to have all the facts in his report.

"Has she got any sort of weapons on her," said Carrot to Cheery.

"No, sir," said the dwarf immediately. "To tell you the truth, sir, she's got nothing on but a robe and a nightie, sir. Good quality fabric though, she must be high-class. But it's lacework, sir. Quirmian, sir. But she's got the look of an Agataean!"

"Could she be a witch?" This was Constable Visit, his face cloudy.

Knowing that Omnians could be very firm on the subject of witches, Captain Carrot said quickly, "I don't think witches are usually that…direct in their magic, Constable."

"I have given the young lady a medical ecthaminathon," Igor added, "and I can thay that her unique abilitieth are the result of thome phythical energy that I have never heard of before. It ith motht remarkable."

At that point, the convention on the prisoner was interrupted by a scream from same, and they all rushed to the cells.

The girl – she wasn't above fifteen, they had been amazed to note – was screaming and breathing blue fire at the bars. Tears were running down her face and her expression was of childish fear.

"Stand back!" Carrot cried.

"Her handth!" Igor pointed. In addition to breathing fire at the bars, the girl was grabbing and shaking them, as if trying to wrench the door free. The combination resulted in her hands being lobster red and dotted with blisters.

There was a moment's hesitation. Even dodging the intermittent bursts of flame, unlocking the door was a difficult prospect, since the bars and the lock were glowing a dull red.

Finally Constable von Humpeding, or Sally, as she liked to be called, strode forward, approached some bars near the side of the cell which the girl wasn't attacking, and with a grunt of effort, she bent the bars far enough apart to step through.

Sally moved up beside the girl and seized her wrists, pulling her away from the bars. She shouted over the screaming, "Stop! It's all right!"

"Let me out," shrieked the girl, "You can't keep me here! Don't touch me, peasant! I won't be your prisoner!"

"You're not a prisoner," Carrot declared from outside, "You were knocked out in the blast, and we just put you in here to keep you safe!"

"And who are you calling a peasant," said Sally, pushing the girl over to the cell bed and sitting her down. The vampire's aristocratic hauteur was a match for the girl's."

"May I ask your name, Miss," said Carrot.

The girl looked up, apparently distracted from the fact that Sally was examining her burned hands. She drew herself up – as far as one can sitting down – and said, "I am Azula, Princess of the Fire Nation, Great-Granddaughter of Firelord Sozin."

This pronouncement left the onlooking watchmen speechless. Not out of awe so much as shock at the surprisingly believable conviction. That kind of talk wasn't unfamiliar to the Watch, but it usually came from someone older, drunker and worse-smelling.

"Ah," Carrot said, nonplussed, "And what do you know about the facility under number 30 Gleam Street? Why did you attack it?"

"I believe," said the girl, "that they are involved in a plot to destabilize your city. To know more than that, you're going to have to let me out!"

Sally shot an incredulous look at Carrot. Just then, the door burst open and Corporal Nobby Nobbs skidded into the room. He was puffing and something that was doing the office of sweat was oozing around his various dermal malignancies.

"That's," Nobby wheezed, pointing at Azula.

There was a long wait for Nobby to pull himself together, expectorate some tobacco-laden sputum, and finally he choked, "That the Agataean girl what punches fireballs, Captain?"

Carrot looked surprised, "Certainly the only one I've heard about, Corporal. You know about her?"

"Been running up and down the city, Captain," Nobby said, finally mustering himself enough to salute. "She turned up last night in Scoone Avenue, Captain. Lady Sybil took her in. Real mystery, sir. She got out this evening, threw some fireballs at me and her Ladyship, and hared off down the street!"

"Lady Sybil isn't hurt, is she?" Cheery's voice squeaked.

"Nah," said Nobby with a shake of his head, "she was all in dragon-gear, Sarge."

The situation to date was briefly explained to Nobby, who stared at the girl. She looked back with an expression of fascinated disgust. Finally, she turned back to Carrot.

"How did you figure out she was here?" Cheery asked.

"Deduction, Sarge," Nobby said. The sceptical looks provoked him to add defensively, "Well, a bit of the city blows sky-high, that's not the Alchemist's Guild, you know a fire-throwing kid's running around, what would you think?"

Azula turned her glare from Nobby to Carrot, and there was an element of nervousness behind the fierce pride. "Well, Captain Carrot," she said, as if tasting the name, "what are you going to do?"

Carrot spoke with that note of authority with which he could turn street gangs into fraternal societies and criminals into penitent citizens. "We, Princess Azula," he said, "are going to pay a call upon Commander Vimes!"


	7. Chapter 7

A coach came up to the Watch House and Captain Carrot ushered Azula into it. He offered his hand to help her up, though she brushed it off. Still, he showed respect.

However, clearly Azula wasn't being taken at her word, because Captain Carrot and four of the others climbed into the coach around her. Captain Carrot was an awe-inspiring figure of strength and keen virtue. Azula found him impressive, and she could see why he was in charge. The others were a bizarre mix. Discipline and military uniformity were values she'd been brought up with, and the Watch of Ankh-Morpork was underwhelming. For one thing, their uniforms were shabby and, except for Carrot, their armour was a disgrace.

And then there were the people in the uniforms. To say they were a mixed bag was an understatement.

The girl was the most respectable-looking among them. She looked barely older than Azula, was at least as pale and had short hair, and regarded Azula with an unsettling curiosity. But she had the airs of an aristocrat about her.

Next to her was the short bearded person, who hadn't spoken much but wore a leather and mail skirt which looked bizarre and had what looked like makeup around his eyes.

Next to her was a man with lank hair and a weirdly misshapen head. His face and hands were covered with scars and…she decided not to count his fingers too carefully. He had seen too much of them when he bound her burned hands with bandages treated with a foul-smelling ointment.

Carrot was on Azula's left. On her right, to her dismay, was Corporal Nobbs.

He smiled crookedly up at her. At least, she thought that's what he was doing. Finally she decided to look elsewhere. And not to breathe too deep.

"Perhaps introductions are in order," the girl watch officer said loudly, trying to break the silence.

"Do you usually socialize with prisoners, Constable," asked Carrot mildly.

"She's hardly a prisoner, sir. She is just helping with inquiries, yes?"

"I suppose so," Carrot agreed. "Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson, Mi- I mean Princess Azula." Azula didn't approve of the sceptical tone in his voice.

"You know Corporal Nobbs of course," Carrot went on quickly, "this is Constable von Humpeding."

"Sally, please," said the girl, smiling in a disconcerting way.

"Igor…"

"Mith."

"And Sergeant Cheery Littelbottom."

"Pleased to meet you," Cheery said.

Azula stared at the Sergeant. Incredulity at his name was quickly overwhelmed by the realization that 'he' was…

"You're a girl?"

Cheery blinked, "Yes, Miss. I'm a dwarf!"

"Have you never met a dwarf before, Azula," Sally said, "I mean, of course you don't meet many openly female dwarfs outside of Ankh-Morpork even today, but still!"

"I do not understand," Azula muttered resentfully, "I have travelled the world, and never heard the name Ankh-Morpork, nor of 'dwarfs,' nor of such creatures as these." She gestured at Igor and Nobby in turn.

"Never heard of Ankh-Morpork?" Nobby took no apparent notice of the remark about himself.

"Just how much of the world have you travelled, exactly," Sally asked, as if worrying after Azula's health.

"Must've been just foreign parts," Nobby said judiciously, "elseways you'd have been in the city before now."

"I," Azula said stiffly, "have commanded armies in the Fire Nation and throughout the Earth Kingdoms!"

"Is that part of Klatch?" Cheery asked innocently.

Silence fell.

Presently they arrived in the centre of the city. It was still pre-dawn, although Azula had been unconscious so much lately that she didn't want for rest.

They had stopped in front of a grand-looking building that nevertheless looked well-used.

"Welcome to Pseudopolis Yard, Azula," said Sally, alighting next to her.

They went in. At this hour only a few watchmen were sitting around the room full of desks, and only one or two looked like they were doing anything.

But Carrot took the lead and said, "Wait here, please," and headed up a flight of stairs.

Sally stayed next to Azula, who declined a chair.

"Carrot just has to bring the Commander up to speed," she explained, "That bit of fireworks in Gleam Street has really been keeping us busy."

Azula raised her eyebrows. "I guess," she said, "that since I don't know where I am, I shouldn't be surprised that a Firebender is new to everyone."

Sally shook her head, "You are a mystery. The Watch doesn't like mysteries, but it sounds as if we're one to you. Look," she said suddenly, looking Azula up and down, "you can't go walking around in nightdress and slippers anymore."

Azula looked down at her clothes and then up at Sally, and her face reddened behind an expression of affront.

"Hang on," said Sally, raising a hand in hasty conciliation, "Come with me; Captain Carrot will probably be a while yet."

Sally ushered Azula into a room that smelled like a peasant barn that someone had pumped full of soap. It was lined around the wall with cabinets with locked doors. Sally moved over to one of them, produced a key, opened the door, and brought out a dress. It was black with red around the skirt and cuffs. "Try this. We're just about the same size."

Azula went behind a screen and changed. The dress was heavy velvet of some kind. The neckline plunged a bit, but it was respectable-looking anyway.

"That is better," said Azula, and brushed past Sally and back toward the main office of the Watch House. Captain Carrot came down the stairs at the same time and, looking Azula up and down said, "Please go up. The Commander wants to see you!"

Azula stepped through the open door and stood in a large office, featuring some chairs, a desk piled with paper and a baton of wood mounted on a stand. In the midst of the paperwork sat, Azula realized, Commander Vimes. Even when he stood up, he was shorter than he'd thought. He was older, too – nearly sixty perhaps, with grizzled, greying hair and unshaved face. For all that, his eyes were sharp as knives and Azula had an impression of a carefully controlled personality. It reminded her, in a wistful way, of the image she'd always tried to project to her enemies.

Commander Vimes did not, to Azula's annoyance, even stand up when she came in. He simply said, "Azula?"

"I am Princess Azula, yes."

"Have a seat."

Affronted but choosing not to press the matter yet – let him think he's my better if he wants – she sat down in the chair opposite.

"Captain Carrot says you're interested in helping with our inquiries. I have two inquiries that are interesting me right now. One of them is what a group of dwarfs, trolls and alchemists were doing with highly volatile chemicals in Gleam Street, and why it apparently sent a gnoll mad. A gnoll, since I highly suspect you don't know this, is a creature who's main interest is in scavenging and garbage. A lot of them work for Harry King, who makes the most of trash in this city to his considerable profit. That's inquiry number one.

"Inquiry number two," he went on at once, "concerns how it came about that a girl of about fifteen was found in the gutters behind Scoone Avenue last night, apparently half-frozen to death and drenched in sea water. This girl was taken in by one Lady Sybil, but upon awakening, acted rashly and unusually by shooting fire out her fingertips. She subsequently became involved in a minor fracas in Gleam Street, whereupon she used that power again and blew the aforementioned volatile chemicals sky-high!"

Azula hesitated, cursed herself for it, and then said, "I wandered out away from my homeland to escape enemies who wanted to shackle me forever in dark pits. More than that I cannot say. I remember… cold water, a giant Lion-Turtle with an island on its back, and then a strange hooded figure with a scythe. And then I woke in, I assume, the home of this 'Lady Sybil.'

Vimes' expression became cloudier. "A turtle-island, you say?"

"Yes," Azula said, thinking that perhaps Lion-Turtles, rare as they were, had escaped the lore of this city of Ankh-Morpork.

Vimes sighed. "I think," he said at last, "that your situation is a little beyond the reach of regular coppering. Captain Carrot says you want to help find out about our other mystery."

"I saw the creatures in their laboratory, or whatever it was. I tracked down their lair."

"I understand that you are from far away," Vimes said sharply, "so I'll patiently explain this: I am Commander of the City Watch, and investigating crime is my business. Your business is to tell me what you know and let me get on in my duty."

Azula smiled a confident little smile, "I've proven that I can hunt wrongdoers, and I have powers unlike anything you've ever seen. If someone is trying to bring your city into danger, you cannot afford to be without help!"

Azula felt her old confidence swell. Here, she thought, was an opportunity to seize, to take her place again as a leader –

"Now you listen to me, young lady," Vimes began angrily, when the door opened and Carrot burst in.

Vimes looked up sharply, and then jumped to his feet as a smooth, mild voice said, "Good morning, Commander."

Azula turned, and froze. She recognized cunning, depth of intellect and real power where she saw it. And it, in its purest form, less Fire Nation royalty, stood in the door. There were three men in the doorway. One was demure and unremarkable, distinguished only by the notebook and file folder under his arm. Another was thin, pale, dressed in a red robe and wore large spectacles. But in front and between them was an older man, tall, unnervingly thin, and seemingly underscored the fact with the long, utterly black cloak he wore. He held a staff or cane in one hand, with a silver skull on the top. He himself was pale as a ghost, black-haired and wore a precise little goatee. And when he looked at someone, you felt that the gaze shone a lamp into your soul.

"My Lord," Vimes said, evidently surprised.

"I believe you know Mr. Stibbons from Unseen University?" The red-robed man nodded politely, looking a little nervous. Introductions complete, Azula was discomfited to find all three visitors' attention focus on her.

"Ah," said the cane-carrying man, "this is our mystery visitor, is it?"

"Princess Azula of the putative Fire Nation," said Vimes stiffly, "Let me introduce you to Lord Vetinari, Patrician of Ankh-Morpork. And with him Secretary Drumknott and Ponder Stibbons, head of Inadvisably Applied Magic at Unseen University."

Lord Vetinari reminded Azula of Long Feng. He had the same serenity and soft, dangerous voice. Commander Vimes stood and yielded his chair to Vetinari.

Lord Vetinari sat down and regarded Azula so that she had to work hard not to squirm.

After slightly too long in silence, Vetinari said, "Well, Commander?"

"I think if she were making up a story, she'd come up with something less unbelievable," he said.

"Quite," said Vetinari.

Azula cocked her head, "Was it you, with the scythe, that was there when I woke up?"

Vetinari raised his eyebrows and Vimes chuckled. "Considering when you saw him, I think that will have been Death. We've met a few times."

The blood slid out of Azula's face.

Vetinari said, "I have spoken with Prof. Stibbons, who, you may not know, Princess," he said as if this was as normal honorific, "is a Wizard."

Azula stared at the thin, bespectacled man. He reminded her of the Earth King, although he seemed more intelligent.

"And he has explained, in his fashion, what he believes to be the origin of one of the Commander's mysteries. Tell me," he said, "What shape is the world?"

Azula stared and then said, "Do you think I'm a child?"

"I think I asked you a question."

Azula paused. She hadn't foreseen that reply. "It's…round."

Vetinari nodded thoughtfully. "I see. We shall attend to that in a moment. For now, Commander, what have you learned from your prisoners?"

"They're not talking much, sir," said Vimes. "Although we questioned them separately and they all showed signs that make me think that they're under threat of some sort."

"Indeed," Vetinari said. "And what of the substance they were concocting?"

"Sergeant Littlebottom says it has some things in common with Slide, but it's not the same thing. Could be something made for gnolls instead of trolls, sir. And considering that King's depot in Treacle Street was broken into – that is, through the wall – and cleaned out, we think…"

"I follow your line of reasoning, Vimes," said Lord Vetinari. He turned back to Azula, "It was you who tracked the gnoll back to the source of this substance, I'm told."

It was not a question but Azula nodded in confirmation.

"Commander, I think someone should accompany the young lady and Mr. Stibbons to the University."


	8. Chapter 8

The person accompanying Azula and Professor Stibbons to the Unseen University turned out to be Sally again, and with her was another officer, introduced as Sergeant Angua. She was tall, had extraordinary golden hair and wore her badge of office on a collar around her neck.

It was nearly four o'clock in the morning and Ankh-Morpork's streets were relatively calm. Azula dropped into combat stance at one point as two men in stripy clothes moved through an alley, but the Sergeant explained that it was just thieves. Azula decided this would make sense eventually. Even more alarming was a swish of black between two rooftops, which was causally written off as an Assassin.

Why they called it 'Unseen University' Azula couldn't fathom. It was absurdly easy to see: a great rambling complex of high-walled stone buildings topped by the Tower of Art, which soared higher than any building she had ever seen. And it looked none too stable either.

They were received in a room that was amply furnished with large, soft chairs and warmed by a great fireplace. A number of very fat men with beards were standing around, some of them eating pastries. On one wall was a large, black circle of polished stone or glass, mounted on a brass frame of some kind.

"Aha! Your mystery stands before us, Mr. Stibbons," said a deafeningly loud and boisterous voice. A giant, white-bearded man in ornate robes pushed to the fore and proffered his hand to Azula, "Mustrum Ridcully, Archchancellor."

Azula, startled, stretched out her hand and Ridcully swept it up and kissed it.

"Honestly, Archchancellor, she's fifteen!" Sergeant Angua snapped.

Azula grimaced and Ridcully stood back and then took Stibbons aside. The spoke briefly and then Ridcully turned back. "Well, er, Princess," he said, "we're extremely interested in how you came to be here. Perhaps it will surprise you to know that you did not arrive here by normal means."

Something in Azula's look caused Ridcully to say, "Or perhaps not. Nevertheless, do you understand where you are now?"

"Ankh-Morpork," Azula ventured.

"Capital!" Ridcully was acting as if Azula needed her spirits raised. It would have raised her spirits far more for him to come to the point.

Stibbons took over at this point, "You stated, in your interview with the Commander, that you are from the 'Fire Nation?'"

Azula frowned, wondering at the deliberate voice in which he named her homeland,"I had to go into exile. My family…" She hesitated.

"Yes, well," said Stibbons quickly, "I should tell you that there is no such country on any map we have here."

Azula stared, and then demanded, "What are you saying? Am I in some other…world?"

"Uh, yes," said Stibbons bluntly. "But I think I may know why: chelonic entanglement!"

"What does that mean," Azula said crossly.

Stibbons opened his mouth, but Ridcully boomed, "Ye gods, Stibbons, don't start up again! It barely made sense the first time. Just show the girl, will you!"

Stibbons sighed, and gestured toward some other wizards, who began moving the large black glass into the centre of the room.

"The Scope will allow us to demonstrate your situation," he said wearily.

After some clattering and clanking behind the large glass, it suddenly came alive! An image came into focus. It was a map, except it wasn't; there were clouds moving across its face. But seas and continents lay across the image, with strings of islands threaded between them.

Azula suddenly felt extremely uneasy. The idea that she was in some other place had some appeal, given all the treachery and loss she had incurred. But as she gazed at the map, she sought for familiar landforms, and found none. The Bay of Azulon, Ba Sin Se's walls, Whale Tail Island…nothing.

"What are you trying to show me?" Azula demanded, "This is some part of the world I have never seen, but what does that have to do with how I came to be here?"

She was pleased to see Stibbons looking nervous, "Uh, well, you spoke of a giant turtle, did you not? It might have brought you here?"

She nodded.

Stibbons adjusted something on the great glass, and the image began to shift. At first it seemed that the map was being squashed, but after a moment Azula realized that it was tilting. The idea that the world was flat was an archaic notion in civilized society, and she almost snorted.

And then, as the plane of the map – of the world – tilted, the underside became apparent. The flat world was sitting on the backs of four elephants. And they, in turn, stood on the shell of a turtle.

Her jaw opened and closed, and she looked to Sally for a moment. The girl looked back at her, and gave a wan smile. She said, "Welcome to the Discworld, Princess Azula."


	9. Chapter 9

When Azula woke, it was dark. She was lying on an overstuffed pastel-green sofa, and she was covered by a decoratively-woven wool blanket. She was still wearing the heavy velvet dress Sally had given her. She raised her head and looked round. The room was wallpapered in red and had heavy green curtains, making it impossible to say what time it actually was. The furnishings were…comfortable was really the only word, with a great deal of that white embroidery that had been on the nightdress she'd been wearing…

A door in one wall opened and Sally herself came in. She was wearing her Watch uniform and was carrying a pair of steaming teacups.

"Ah! You are awake, good. How are you feeling?"

Azula considered this question. She sat up, took one teacup from Sally, and breathed in the steam. It was definitely tea. Something familiar, although she didn't recognize this blend. Then again…

The revelation at the University came back to her and her hands trembled for an instant. She quickly raised the cup, which had a handle, unlike the teacups she was used to, and tried to sip the tea with dignity. It was shockingly sweet but not bad. Azula was taken aback when Sally sat down companionably beside her and took a sip from her own cup.

"Sorry," said Sally pre-emptively, "I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable. If it helps, I promise I won't sit too close or touch you without permission."

Smiling a little at Azula's inquisitive glare, Sally said, "You said you were a princess, of course. But I can tell, you know. When you walk into a room and everyone stays seated, you feel as if you were walking over familiar ground and an earthquake happened."

Azula turned away from that amiably smiling face. It made her feel…understood.

"I'm sorry," she said again, "I can relate. Vam – people where I come from are used to that sort of treatment.

"And now on top of that we find you're, well, out of this world!"

"I don't care about that," Azula said sharply, glaring into her teacup, "I had nothing left there. But," she fumed inwardly, this was such a weakling thing to say, "But this place is so different! I can't even read the writing in this city! I need…help."

Azula glanced at Sally, then did a double-take. The young lady was smiling broadly. Was it Azula's imagination, or were her canine teeth unnaturally long?

"I have good news, Azula," Sally said, "You wouldn't know it, but Commander Vimes was impressed with your eye for clues. Captain Carrot and I spoke with him, and he says you can enlist in the Watch if you want!"

Azula perked up, "He'll let me investigate the explosion?"

"I don't know about that," said Sally diplomatically, "but you'll be able to make a living and one way or another, your fighting skills and wits will be put to work!"

Azula considered this. It seemed…promising. After all, it could be like Ba Sing Se. Get inside the system, become part of it, and she could go far.

With that in mind, she set down her teacup and said, "I accept! I'll soon show Vimes that I'm not just a lost waif. I shall be the finest of his officers!"

"Ah yes," said Sally, grimacing, "About that…"


	10. Chapter 10

It was after midday when a Ba Sing Se ship flying the royal flag arrived at Ember Island. There was already a small ship showing the fans of the Kyoshi Warriors, and another Fire Nation frigate in port.

Aang and Katara were waiting in the parlour of the Royal holiday home. A big fire was crackling in the fireplace. Sitting on a large divan alongside was Mai, her dour eyes staring vacantly into the flames. On a chair opposite, Ty Lee, in Kyoshi Warrior fatigues and without the distinctive makeup, was wringing her hands and looking helplessly sad.

"I never even came to visit," Ty Lee had been saying. "Six months and I never made time to visit!"

Mai's voice was toned to its usual sardonic, but she somehow managed to make it sound gentle when she said, "It's not like you could jump a boat and stop by for a weekend, Ty."

"I wrote her a letter on her birthday," Ty Lee persisted, "I don't even know if she read it."

"Look," said Aang kindly, "just because we were busy or far apart doesn't mean we didn't care. Katara has been working hard to help Azula and others. Anyway, I'm not even sure that she's…lost. This isn't a funeral, it's a puzzle!"

"Fine," Mai said, with an edge of impatience, "Then can we solve it already?"

"I think we may," said a cracked voice.

Everyone stood as Zuko returned, and with him his uncle, General Iroh, nowadays landlord of the Jade Dragon tea shop.

"Zuko started explaining," Iroh said, disregarding the niceties and sitting down on the last vacant chair. Zuko returned to Mai's side at the divan.

Zuko completed his part of the narrative, and then Aang finished explaining their encounter with the Lion Turtle. Iroh listened to all of it with his eyes unfocused, staring into the middle distance.

"The Lion Turtles are creatures that predate even the Avatar," Iroh said, "They see beyond the four elements, as Aang can attest," he nodded to the Avatar.

"It said to you that it sent Azula to one like itself?"

"It described itself as an echo of worlds beyond this one," Aang replied, the words coming uncertainly.

"And what have your past selves to say on the matter?"

Aang shook his head, "Not a lot. Avatar Roku says he'd heard of the idea of other worlds besides this one and the spirit world, but doesn't know much about it."

"Before I left Ba Sing Se, I consulted the University for anything they might have on the subject. I'm afraid the only entries they had were under 'folklore and mythology.'

Iroh drew some scrolls out of his sleeves and laid them out across his knees.

"This is a story of the adventure of a man of the Air Nomads, Sonam. He encountered a giant Lion Turtle on whose back a forest had grown and rivers ran. And when he walked across it, it turned into a vast land with cities and people made of stone, people half the size of ordinary men, and dragons unlike those he knew. He ultimately returned."

"It does remind me a little of stories I heard about Lion Turtles," said Aang, frowning, "that the entire world can be represented in them? And that they exist at all levels of reality, from the worldly to the cosmic. But they were always said to be vague and mysterious and nobody knew much about them for certain."

"Indeed," Iroh nodded, "They are symbols of the world in the Earth Kingdom especially. I believe that you would have encountered the statues of them outside the Palace."

"We were in kind of a hurry to get in," said Aang bashfully, "I can't say I noticed."

"This is all fascinating," Katara said, throwing a worried glance toward the clearly impatient Zuko, "but what does it have to do with Azula?"

Iroh's expression acquired a dispassionate quality that Zuko recognized as his 'teaching face.' "As there are beings in the Spirit World that are counterparts of real-world beings, so Lion Turtles might indeed have some counterpart in the universe to which they are connected."

"So," Aang said, frowning, "You think that this legend of Sonam might mean that there's some kind of really giant Lion Turtle out there, with a whole world on its back?"

"Based on what we've seen, that would seem to be the case."

"An entire world," Katara observed grimly, "Where nobody knows who Azula is or what she's capable of."

"And what could happen to her?" Zuko added. "We need to go after her."

Aang sprang up. "Then let's get the boat and I'll get the Lion Turtle to take us!"

"No," Zuko interrupted, "Aang, you have too much to do as the Avatar here. This is my family, my problem. I'll go. Uncle, I need you to hold my place until I return."

Iroh sighed, "Very well, Lord Zuko. But take great care, you do not know what you might be getting into."

"He'll have backup," Ty Lee was on her feet.

"And I'm not letting you out of my sight," Mai smiled slightly.

"Sokka and Toph will be here in a few hours," Katara said, "You'll have them on your side too."

Zuko looked at Mai and Ty Lee, Azula's old crew. "Let's get ready, then."


End file.
